What works best for Net Promoter® Score: Web Surveys or Phone Surveys? Rob and Adam discuss when it is more appropriate to use phone or email, and a look at the economics of both. This presentation was part of a webinar [ https://directness.webex.com/directness/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=13981877&rKey=24B5C68C328C7925 ]- our Net Promoter Best Practice Series. Led by Robert Kerner and Adam Dorrell, this webinar looks at the pros and cons of both web and phone surveys – with cost comparisons, a look at the value, and when to use either web or phone. This is a fast run through, with practical examples, plus a short Q&A session at the end. It should be useful for those considering the design and implementation of a Net Promoter program.

1. CustomerGauge, Best Practice Series
Email/Web Surveys vs. Phone Surveys
Adam Dorrell, Robert Kerner,
CEO CustomerGauge/Directness Director, Business Development
Adam.dorrell@directness.net CustomerGauge/Directness
rob.kerner@directness.net

2. Email/Web Survey vs Phone Surveys
Two go in, one comes out!

3. What we do: Directness
B2b
customers
• We provide technical solutions to help
companies add strong metrics to marketing Consumers
activities
– CustomerGauge: Automatically
measure, understand and analyse customer
sentiment, using Net Promoter Score®. Identify
and grow your most loyal customers.
• Used by global organisations
– +1 million end-customers measured since 2007
– +25,000 marketing events tracked since 2008
• Company background: hi-tech marketing:
Sony, Dell, Compaq, HP, KPN etc
– Privately funded, based Amsterdam, NL
Selected Clients

4. Outbound Phone Surveying (with people)
• Simple to start, infinitely flexible
– Script based, numbers into a
spreadsheet
– “smile and dial” until you get
through
– Easy to get numbers – you can
survey anyone with a phone
– Detailed answers
– Can immediately escalate
issues (if setup right)
• Watch out for
– “no-call” lists
– Busy people don’t take calls
– Operator bias
– Hard to transcribe a lot of text
– Reporting
– Expense!

5. Phone Surveying IVR
• Well understood technology (1960s)
– Normally at end of call, operator hands of
to IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system
– Systems can be menu based with voice
recording
– Transcribing not very expensive if
outsourced
– Reliable, mid-range costs
– Realtime reporting
• Watch out for
– Low response rate/ high drop off rate
– People hate phone menus
– Operator bias (don’t survey angry
customers)
– Mistakes on transcribing
– Outbound IVR not liked (some places not
legal)
– Technology showing its age

6. Email/Web surveying
• Simple to setup
– Inexpensive
– Flexible, many question types
– Immediate results
– Number and Text results that can be put in a
spreadsheet, searchable
– Number of people with email is increasing
• Watch out for
– Spam
– Security
– Privacy
– Low responses Who can receive email and
– Over-complicating surveys browse the web?
• IDC say that 1bn smart phones will be
– Mobile email/browsing sold in 2015[1]
– Making reporting difficult (too many scales!) • 30% of the World’s population already
have internet access [2]
– Surprisingly difficult to manage well (reminders,
bounces, actions, CRM link)
1. http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/2011/06/idcs-smartphone-forecast-55-increase-this-year-reckons-1-billion-will-ship-by-2015.html
2. http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

7. Web Hall of Shame
Page 14 of 21
• How not to do a web
survey
– Too many
questions, multiple
pages (you lose
c.15% per page)
– Complex grids of
scales
– Insisting on
answers
– Asking customers
for information you
already hold
(CRM) You must complete every section!

8. Email Hall of Shame
• Email annoyance
– Bad subject lines: “test”
– Too many graphics, or
not working on a smart
phone
– No way of unsubscribing
– Over-emailing

9. Let’s take an example
This Example? No!
Stating Point:
• 10,000 customer names
• 90% phone numbers
• 10% email address
Ending Point
• 10,000 customer names
• 40% phone numbers
• 60% email address

10. From a cost perspective
Contact Centre, 1 call per customer Email, initial email and 1 reminder
Number of Customers 100,000 Number of Customers 100,000
Number of Surveys, usually limited by Number of Surveys, usually limited by number of emails
contact centre capacity 10,000 address that you have 10,000
Survey (calls) 10,000 Email 1 sent 10,000 Email 2 sent 8,200
Response rate 10% Response rate 18% Response rate 9%
Reponses 1,000 Reponses 1,800 Reponses 738
Cost per Call, answered € 10.00 Total Email Sent 18,200 Total Reponses 2,538
Cost per Call, unanswered € 1.00 Cost per email € 0.025 Cost emails € 455
Cost, answered Calls € 10,000
Cost, unanswered calls € 9,000
Total Costs € 19,000
Campaign Budget € 19,000 Campaign Budget € 455.00
Cost per Reponses, € 19.00 Cost per Reponses, € 0.18
Total Responses 1,000 Total Responses 2,538
Responses Rate, of all customers 1.0% Responses Rate, of all customers 2.5%
Items in light blue are assumptions but you can clearly see that in
practically no scenario are you going to see where emails and
reminders are not going to have a lower cost to serve than phone calls

11. Why should I get more emails?
Why should we try to get more email addresses?
Starting Point Ending Point
Customers 10,000 Customers 10,000
Phone Surveys 90% Phone Surveys 40%
Email Surveys 10% Email Surveys 60%
Number of Phone Surveys 9,000 Number of Phone Surveys 4,000
Number of Email Surveys 1,000 Number of Email Surveys 6,000
Reponses, Phone 900 Reponses, Phone 400
Reponses, Email 147 Reponses, Email 885
Total reponses 1,047 Total reponses 1,285
Cost, Phone € 17,100 Cost, Phone € 7,600
Cost, Email € 25 Cost, Email € 150
Cost, Total € 17,125 Cost, Total € 7,750
Campaign Budget € 17,125 Campaign Budget € 7,750
Cost per Reponses, € 16.35 Cost per Reponses, € 8.76
Total Responses 1,047 Total Responses 1,285
Responses Rate 10.5% Responses Rate 12.8%
Total Savings € 9,375 55%
Extra Reponses 237 23%
Extra Reponse Rate 2.4%

12. When to touch the phone….
• There are times to call but not just to do a survey.
• Call your top customers after a response to ensure that you
understand what they meant
• Close issues FAST, best practice here is 24 hours for detractors.
Use your teams to do this, not take surveys.
• Probe interesting comments. Call back people when they give you
new product ideas or seem to have some new insight that you can
use.
• Engage promoters in general, engage them to make them feel more
involved in the organization, offer deals to valuable, long term
customers to surprise them etc.

13. Key Take Aways
Email/web is MORE effective than phone surveys
 Email/web is around 100 times more cost effective than
telephone surveying
 No response bias (from a telephone operator)
 Can be completed in own time, better able to reach senior
executives
 No transcribing errors
 Auditable, anti-gaming systems to ensure that there is no
survey fraud
 Instant results
 No training of contact staff needed
 Smartphones are becoming the dominant force, can do
web surveys on the move
 Best practice: Email/Web surveying, use phone for
follow-ups and service recovery.